The master's degree
in East Asian Studies requires ten courses
(30 credits), including an integrated required
core course, of which at least eight (24 credits)
must be in East Asian Studies.
These must be drawn from a list of approved courses,
with no more than four (12 credits) taken in
any one department. Fourth-year college-level
East Asian language courses may be counted toward
the eight-course requirement. Also, eight courses (24 credit) must be at the graduate level. In lieu of a thesis, the Program requires
the completion of a capstone course in addition
to a research paper or an annotated bibliography
in the area or topic of specialization . The degree
is dependent on the acceptance of the research
paper or annotated bibliography by the Graduate
Committee and successful completion of an oral
examination on the project by an Master's advisory
committee of three faculty members, two of whom
must be APSI core faculty members.
Students are directed in their course of study by the APSI
Director of Graduate Studies along with an
individual faculty advisor from the Graduate Committee.
Once an area of research interest is identified,
students can request a capstone advisor, other
than the faculty advisor, to choose the capstone
course and direct his/her research paper or
annotated bibliography. At the conclusion of the
Program, students must have attained advanced proficiency
in one East Asian language, equivalent to three
years of college-level study. It is strongly
recommended that applicants complete at least
one year of such language study before beginning
the program at Duke. Students who are native
speakers of an East Asian language are encouraged
to take one year (two semesters) of another
East Asian language.
Above: some of our students
meet with Ambassador Yang Jiechi at the Asian/Pacific Studies
Institute
